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AMA with YC Partner Aaron Harris on Applying to YC – S17 Deadline Is Tonight
YC applications for the Summer 2017 batch are due tonight. Here's the link to apply - http://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
- akharris 10y agoHi! I still remember how nervous I was submitting my YC application 6 years ago. Now that I get to read them, happy to answer any last minute questions you have. AMA!
- channa1989 10y agoHi Aaron! Does it look bad if we have 4 founders ? Thank you, Channa
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- dre7413 10y agoHey Aaron, If you've previous applied and got at least to a video interview. Can it work against you if you've slightly changed your answer to 'Describe your company...' and 'What will your company make'?
- koolba 10y ago> If you've previous applied and got at least to a video interview. Is a video interview a new thing? I thought it was just 1) Apply (with a pre-recorded video explaining your startup) 2) In-person at the YC office. Is there a step 1.5 now too?
- elmar 10y agohttps://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/58y7py/anyone_get_a_yc_video_interview/ https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/58y7py/anyone_get...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- akharris 10y agoIt won't work against you. Did you change what you do, or just how you describe it?
- dre7413 10y agoJust how it is described. Any suggestions on how to go further than a video interview the next time you apply? What do you all look for?
- Autobotanist 10y agoOn the applications is there any best practices to follow? How long should we keep our answers? Thank you!
- dustingetz 10y agoDoes 2017 YC have technical reviewers? Like PB or PG?
- mmexia 10y agoHey Aaron, we applied last batch and got an in person interview! Do you have any advice on how to get back there? (we have better numbers and a better product)
- akharris 10y agoGreat to hear that you've made more progress! Just describe it clearly and talk about anything new you've learned.
- dustingetz 10y agoDo YC reviewers watch the video first, or at the same time as the text app, or only watch the video if they like the text app?
- mikeryan 10y agoI have no idea what the process is but in a previous application my video (AFAICT from YouTube Analytics) was never viewed.
- dustingetz 10y agoHow many seconds of reviewer attention does the average[1] application get before they move on to the next? [1] confusing, not very good
- dustingetz 10y agoIf you apply early, and then decide to rewrite everything, does anyone see the edits or has the decision been made?
- akharris 10y agoIf someone on the admissions team happened to look at your earlier application, sure, but that doesn't get considered. We just look at finished applications when making decisions.
- vplpndy 10y agoWhat's the best stage of startup for applying to YC - when you have a product in mind and still chalking out the plan, working on Product Market Fit (not building it yet)? when you have a working prototype? when you already have some traction? any of above?
- akharris 10y agoThis is a great question. We take companies at all different stages, from ideas through those who are already in market with customers. The "right stage" is more a question of how long you've been working than an absolute state. The more you can get done in a given amount of time, the better.
- Alex3917 10y ago> The more you can get done in a given amount of time, the better. Time meaning calendar days or person hours? E.g. if you're comparing a two cofounder startup with a three cofounder startup, where they've each been working full time for a year, do you care more about absolute progress after a year or about progress normalized to the number of person hours? Obviously after you invest the main metric that matters is progress per calendar day, since that's what affects your IRR. But if a startup hasn't taken external funding then there is a more interesting discussion to be had about the relative meaningfulness of each, how their importance might be shifting over time, etc.
- akharris 10y agoWe don't have an exact formula. When I look at an application, I try to figure out how much time is being spent on the co and work off of that. Obviously it's different for full time vs. part time and many vs. few. However, if an idea has been sitting around in halfway space for years, I'm going to want to know why.
- ikeboy 10y agoIs running another profitable business, plus college a good reason for not actively working on the idea?
- crtlib 10y agoHi Aaron, please tell what docs are needed at the YC office (we're optimistic!) if there is no legal entity yet? In other words, how should I prove the thing is really ours? Is it actually bad that we aren't incorporated? We didn't hurry with this, because we are outside of the US and we know about the need to convert a legal entity into a US one.
- clevy 10y agoIt's fine that you aren't incorporated yet, and I'm glad you waited! Many applicants have not formed a legal entity when they apply. If you are accepted in the S17 batch, we will help you incorporate in the US.
- dankai 10y agoIf you've applied early, will the (updated) application be checked again after the deadline, or are the chances that it's been looked at already and already evaluated?
- dankai 10y agoIf there's a competing startup funded already by YC, will you make sure that they won't get details of the application?
- ardit33 10y agoSimilar to talking VC, there is no guarantee. But unless you have a truley secret sauce going on, ideas by themselves rarely matter. People have a tendency to overestimate ideas. They are remarkable easy to come up with. I have been in brainstorming session, where we would come up with at least 10-12 really good ideas within an hour. Usually it is execution that matters at the end, as you don't know what it works or what it doesn't. Tested ideas that move the needle a lot on the other hand are valuable: Eg. We tried to get sign ups doing X, but we failed, but then when we did Y and Z and added these two features we saw a huge increase in signups and retention. -- That's direct learnings from the field, and it is both expensive and somewhat valuable.
- dankai 10y agoI agree with the premise that ideas themselves are worthless. But what's questionable is whether YC acts in favour of the new applicants that share their insights honestly, or whether they are more prone to protect their investment in the already funded startup (by providing them with details/intel).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- lowglow 10y agoI agree that execution is everything, but when people say "ideas are worthless" -- I just have to assume they've never had a good idea.
- akharris 10y agoWe do our best to prevent information sharing to competing companies. Partners who see applications don't disclose the details of those applications to companies that might be competitive. There is always a chance, though, that an alum who is reviewing applications might see a competing company. While we try to prevent this from happening, we can't be 100% sure. We're pretty careful with which alums are included in the review process, though, and we trust those alums to skip applications that might be competitive rather than trying to gain from reading it.
- annerajb 10y agoI am feeling a little worried of our changes while applying to YC. I remember reading that YC looks for companies with can grow up to 10BN. While we think we can definitely grow upwards of 1 Billion which is what VC firms usually look up too. After 1 Billion is gonna depend a lot on being able to lower the cost of the product enough to increase volume How hard is this rule? What if the company cannot reach that 10 Billions in Revenue in the future is that a weighted heavily on the application?
- akharris 10y agoIt's pretty much impossible to figure out if a company is a $1B or $10B company when reading an application. We use this as more of a thought experiment than anything else. When I read an application, I force myself to imagine a world in which this idea + team could create a really big company. If that's true, than I'm interested. If not, I'm less likely to want to go further.
- conanbatt 10y agoIm working on a product for the real estate market in Argentina: does that work against me for the YC application?
- davidddavidson 10y agoYC funds companies that focus in other (non-US) countries. There are a few that demo'd a few days ago that focused in Africa for example.
- bookbild 10y agoWould emails from prospective enterprise customers be viewed favorably (in lieu of LOI)? We're working with these firms for concept testing - solution is in development.
- akharris 10y agoFor enterprise companies, this is definitely useful, but not definitive.
- austenallred 10y agoThis may not be something you can answer, but I'm curious as to the scoring methodology and how teams get invited to interviews (or not) behind the scenes. Is there a rating system? A binary yes/no that needs to be seconded by enough reviewers?
- akharris 10y agoThere is a rating system. It works in two tiers. The first set of grades is given by a set of alum reviewers. That puts anywhere from 3-10 votes on an application. The ones with enough passing votes then get reviewed by partners. We then vote on every application between 2-5 times, and stack rank the results. We invite the top ~450 to interviews.
- dankai 10y agoWhat's the question you wished people would ask for? Something that a lot of applications get wrong and kills their chances early on.
- d--b 10y agoHi Aaron, what differentiates you guys from other accelerators? Like angelpad and techstars? Is it the core values? Is it the networks, what would you say makes YC unique?
- d--b 10y agoHi Aaron, I vaguely remember PG saying that while he was reviewing YC applications he would recognize applicants from their HN contributions. People he liked reading would get a boost. Did I dream it? Is that still the case that if people like my HN posts, I may get special attention to my application?
- Hydraulix989 10y agoIf this is true, then I'm screwed; all I do here is troll.
- agrprashant 10y agoHaha.
- d--b 10y agoHi again Aaron, can you tell us the proportion of YC-funded company that had at least 1 referral from other founders / yc partners? If you cannot state a number can you at least qualitatively tell us whether having a referral is a huge boost or a slight advantage?
- akharris 10y agoI wouldn't think too much about it. While I look at referrals when they exist, they don't change my mind one way or the other. The rest of the application is way more important.
- dennis_prinz 10y agoHi Aaron, I'm about to submit our application for cosum, a mobile marketplace that lets people use coworking spaces worldwide on demand per hour instead of months. So basically we're changing the unit from a month to an hour (AWS > Server > Minute) so people pay their actual usage. We lower the price for consumers, increase their flexibility and increase the revenue of spaces by using their resources smarter. I introduced this model at my own coworking space and it's a huge success. The idea to make this model available on a worldwide mobile marketplace is only 2 weeks old and I started working with 3 of my members on it. As they are all freelancers, they can't just start with something full-time without funding. So I created a prototype/milestone deal with them, paying a little out of my pocket now and more when I raise money + possibility to become co-founders. No shares etc. have been discussed yet. How would you put this in the application? And one more question: We don't have a demo yet, shall I include a possible link for it or is there a way of updating you guys. I'm confident we can show progress in the next days. Thanks!
- akharris 10y agoJust describe what you're doing and how your team is split as you do here. I'd also want to know what the milestones are, and what that means in terms of pay and equity for the team members.
- dennis_prinz 10y agoThanks! Will do. I understand we're very early, but in one week we'll be a little bit less early and I think we can launch a closed beta before April 24. Proof of concept on the consumer side has happened, so I wanna focus on convincing spaces in the next days. How can I update you and the other partners on our process?
- evbots 10y agoFor the question "What will your company make?" do you recommend that startups focus on explaining what they've already built, or on what they will build out in the future? Thanks!
- akharris 10y agoDepends how far along you are. Feel free to describe both.
- wj 10y agoHaving not went through YC (yet!) I'm curious as to how much the Startup School MOOC will mirror the core process? I imagine YC is more like going from 0.5 to 1--focusing on one or two things such as product or marketing--rather than the 0 to 1 where everything is covered like was done in Sam's How to Start a Startup course at Stanford?
- crosscases 10y agoDo you keep to a theme for each batch bc I thought I saw something about AI-driven corps this summer?
- ParameterOne 10y agoHi Aaron, as mentioned in the YC video tips about volume I wanted to share with everyone that today after a friend watched my video he complained about low volume even though it was fine on my machine. I wanted to let applicants know that there is an adjustment in the edit section of youtube as seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvxTWXVMikg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvxTWXVMikg Which I am doing now haha. although i think it does change the link to an unregistered video so you may have to edit your application.
- mndaly 10y agoWe built both iOS and web apps. Both require login currently and the iOS app is farther along and more interactive as that is how we capture images. How do we get you guys the login info we made you? Or would we be better off sending a demo video showing both working in concert?
- akharris 10y agoDemo video would be best, but you can also include login info in your application.
- abanayev 10y agoOne way to do this is to have your server respond to an obscure route like /x92y37ruhij0d8f8h1803rf and return a cookie with an automatically saved session for the demo account. But the deadline has passed now, anyway ;)
- Danilka 10y agoWhere is the line on "What is your most successful hack of a non-computer system" question? What would you consider clever and what would be over the line?
- ikeboy 10y agoWhat if my best computer system hack is more impressive than my best non computer one? Can I include multiple "hacks"?
- tmaly 10y agoAaron, I am curious if there has been any further development on bringing back the YC radio podcast? I think that was a brilliant podcast and it offered a lot of valuable insight to others embarking down that path.
- akharris 10y agoAw thanks! I had a lot of fun doing it, but I think the podcast is done. We've started doing other cool things, though, like video office hours: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5PdSeZT05IflVmZED_ZRcbO https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5PdSeZT05If...
- tmaly 10y agoAaron, thanks for the link. Do you have the audio of these videos hosted anywhere as mp3?
- agrprashant 10y agoIn case it's not, you can use offliberty.com. Takes seconds.
- strgrd 10y agoAMA is a registered trademark of Reddit, Inc. (#86944696).
- madmeowz 10y agoHey Aaron! My team applied earlier this week and we're eager to join the YC community. Are there any traits you look for in applicants? We've read tons of PG's essays but I'm interested in your perspective. Thank you for taking the time to do this AMA!
- caser 10y agoWhat do you look for when evaluating nonprofits? Also, would you be open to funding a nonprofit in a similar space to one you've already funded that's doing things in a different way?
- thehuntermykel 10y agoIs it unlikely for a startup in the mock / rendering stage to get accepted into YC?
- akharris 10y agoNope - we accept plenty of companies at that stage.
- capocannoniere 10y agoWhat are some recent examples? It would be particularly impressive for a team of ~2-3 people to: - build a product - handle legal/HR paperwork to set up a company + recruit + hire - launch - iterate based on feedback - Get solid traction by demo day in just 3 months (the duration of YC). It seems to me that in the early days of YC, most companies would finish the YC program while still in the idea phase or barely past it, whereas most recent YC companies already have solid traction by demo day.
- arhyner 10y agoWhat would you say the ratio of for-profit vs. non-profit applications is?
- leonardloo428 10y agoWe just pivoted to a new idea we always wanted to work on yesterday. In one day we did a lot. Is it a good idea to apply with a one day old idea? We have launched and have some traction on the previous idea, but it's not something we really want to work on.
- learned_eg 10y agoHello, we have problem on being able to move to California if we where accepted. My wife will be carrying twins at that time. Is this a deal breaker for YC? If not how do I relay my issue? Thanks
- chienomi 10y agoMy prospective cofounder could not move to the US, so I applied as a solo founder. Co-founders must be in the US for three months?
- ringular 10y agoIf we're close to closing a seed 500k round, would you recommend we still apply for YC?
- Yug04 10y agohow to change email address of HN?
- adeniyim1007 10y agoWhat are the chances of In college stud, whom drop off school to work on their startup and apply to YC. And its a first experience. But totally obsessed about the idea involved and also open to changes.
- jjoe 10y agoWhat's keeping YC from accepting more applicants? What's weighing more in your decision: is it the investment or the labor factor? Would your acceptance rate increase if applicants were to forgo the ~$120k? Rephrased: Are there applicants you could have otherwise accepted were they to decline the cash in exchange for taking part in the program and still giving you the ~7% equity? Thanks
- lindzjm 10y agoWere all the applications viewed yesterday? The link we included with our wireframe was having problems yesterday and I realized that today. I replied to the submission email earlier today. Is it too late?
- leonardloo428 10y agoWe just realized that the switching from "Public Beta" to "Mocks / Renderings" hid a bunch of questions that we previously filled in, but did not clear those answers. So we ended up submitting those answers in our application without our knowledge. We only realized this when we saw "Past submissions" but it's too late to change now. Will this be a big issue?
- suhailameen46 10y agoDoes people who have been to market with their product have an edge over those who are in development phase?